Entries from April, 2013

As the land has dried enough for me to get around comfortably on the JCB, I’ve managed to dig a little more out for the new roadway. It forms a large horseshoe loop around the top half of the side surrounding the ‘to-be’ pond and old cress bed.

Viewing west towards the top field.

Viewing east along the river

The top part of the loop sweeps along side the river through a couple of pine trees and passed the bee hive. I really like this section of the site; it’s out of the wind mostly and you can occasionally hear kingfishers flying past. We found whilst clearing this section a few grass snakes too, docile and friendly mind you!

When you’re dealing with such a huge project, it is easy to push the seemingly insignificant minor details to the background. With so much still to do on the Cresslands site, before we open up for touring caravans to park and settle in for the night, making headway with the main roadway and continuing the site clearance has held top priority. Although it still does, it was a small thing, but yet a huge milestone, to finally place a securing plate onto the now 1 year old tarmac entrance to hold the gate firmly in place. Sam (bro-in-law) set to work last week and engineered the plate, but I must say it’s made a huge difference to how I get in and out of the site, which from a Feng Shui perspective is a GOOD thing.

More cosmetic and polishing touches planned for the next few weeks.. 🙂

Here’s an aerial shot of the Cresslands Ltd. site. The A15 running north towards Bourne on the left. I would say the photo is around 5-7 years old, but you can clearly see where the old cress beds are marked by the long strips of concrete forming walkways between the beds.

Having never seen a working cress bed, it’s hard to tell exactly how it was all pieced together. The obvious necessary element to the farm was a constant supply of fresh, mineral laced water. There are two bore holes on the site, one capped and working, the other rusted and as far as I can tell – LEAKING! Water from the bores was carried along side channels with holes in the side wall every metre or so, this flooded the bed and filtered along to the other end and eventually into the central ditch running down the centre of the site. (I am guessing mind you!)

Today I spent a few hours carrying on the wet and muddy job of clearing one of the remaining cress beds which I want to turn into a feature of the Cresslands site. It has a couple of patches of bullrushes which I am keeping but intend on clearing ALL of the rest and possibly digging into the bed to create some depth enough for fish.

There are a few waterlogged and dead trees to take out as yet, but the area is already proving fertile in life, with caddis fly larvae, pond skaters and snails, as well as a regular duck visitor.

We’ve planted 6 small silver birch trees just behind the entrance gateway. Hoping with recent rain they have taken and will in time flourish. I plan to keep all planting as native and locally sourced as possible. Plans for hazel, willow and edible plants throughout the site. 🙂

This week, the large industrial unit or ‘shed’ got concreted. It’s now completely weatherproof and sealed from any animal gaps! We had several birds nests in here last year! If you are looking to over-winter your caravan get in touch for competitive rates and availability.